NBN begins FttDP network construction

NBN has kicked off a trial of its FttDP construction and installation process in Melbourne ahead of rolling the network out to almost 320,000 premises in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth this year.

Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) company has commenced building its fibre-to-the-distribution-point/curb (FttDP/C) network, starting with a trial of its construction and installation process in Coburg, Melbourne.

FttDP brings fibre closer to premises than NBN's fibre-to-the-node (FttN) network, with plans to deploy it up to the driveways of around 1 million Australian premises.

Consumer products for the network will be available around mid-2018, with NBN saying it is now working with retail service providers (RSPs) on developing these.

"We will be focusing our efforts in the next few months on ensuring we understand how to scale the FttC network rollout across the country, and also working with our retail customers to trial the product in preparation for its launch next year," NBN chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan said on Friday.

Having moved 1 million premises from FttN and from Optus' "not fully fit for purpose" hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network over to FttDP, Ryan added that "a small number" of premises will now have a revised timeframe on when they can access the NBN.

Between June and December 2017, NBN expects to commence construction of FttDP across approximately 318,400 premises nationwide, including in the Greater Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, and Perth regions, along with Melbourne's CBD and Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

NBN in April said it would be expanding its FttDP network to an additional 300,000 premises across the country in addition to the 700,000 announced last year.

To that end, it signed new fibre construction contracts with Fulton Hogan, Downer, and Service Stream in December 2016 covering around 525,000 premises throughout Sydney and Melbourne, "most" of which will be connected by FttDP; and signed NetComm Wireless to supply its FttDP one-port and four-port distribution point units (DPUs) and related services in November.

Despite the FttDP network expanded to approximately 1 million premises, however, the South Australian government argued that NBN should increase this even further to provide as many customers as possible with fibre to the premises (FttP) or FttDP.

"The South Australian government strongly recommends that the NBN rollout be adjusted to provide FttP or FttC connections to as many households and businesses as is practically possible," the government said in its submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the NBN.

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